Friday, August 8, 2008

No one craves the spotlight more than Nagin. Why else would he so publicly waffle about whether or not he would even show up to the council meeting? This guy would club baby seals with puppies if he thought it would get him some good camera time. He is apparently a subscriber to the any publicity is good publicity school of thought. Well Clarence, I am here to tell you that just ain't so. Let's say that, in your former life at Cox back before you went bat-shit nuts, the cable converters started blowing up and killing people. Would you be beating the "keeps our brand out there" drum? I think not.

In the same vein, a high murder rate keeping the "New Orleans Brand" out there, not good. A mayor who is descending further and further into madness and pulling us down with him? also not good. You saying that you're "sick and tired" of being scrutinized? Really, really not good. You are a politician at the helm of a city that is accepting billions of dollars in recovery money from tax payers who, if they had their druthers, would put up a wall and turn the whole place into a penal colony ala Escape from New York.

There are people out here that are really sick and really tired. Sick because the stress of rebuilding their lives takes a heavy toll, and tired because we constantly have to explain why we aren't further along collectively with the recovery. All we can do is try to make our little corner of New Orleans right. I'm not saying you have to do it all by yourself, but please delegate the responsibility responsibly.

Your smugness, incompetence and outright lies are not helping us out. This is not the brand we want out there. Throw in the towel, make the decision that is right for the city for the first time in 3 years.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

It seems we should be looking toward Detroit to see how to deal with a misbehaving mayor. This guy was nabbed for obstruction of justice. Can we get a consult with the powers that be up there so we can get Nagin Na-gone?

You know we're in dire straights when people are asking WWDD? (What Would Detroit Do).

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Just when you hoped the hits from Perdido St. couldn't possibly keep coming, and Nagin couldn't show more disdain and lack of respect for us, the voters, he has refused to appear before the city council to address the NOAH scandal. He cites a scheduling conflict in his letter to the council, and in response the council said they found it less than likely that he couldn't free up some time in his schedule. Apparently bilking the city for long expensive lunches, and making threatening remarks to journalists is quite time intensive and doesn't allow for much flexibility to address malfeasance.

That is assuming, of course, that Hizzhonah is in the city or state. On one of the local talk radio shows on Tuesday, a caller said that she was in Dallas and ran into Arch Duke of alopecia complaining at the car rental agency not having the Escalade he reserved. We can't get him to take the recovery process seriously, but you try to put him in a subcompact at Hertz and he will coldcock anyone within arms reach.

Do we really have to take this for another 700 plus days? I hear people say "just two more years", that's like telling Sisyphus "just a few more steps". Because there is always the chance that we will end up at the bottom of the hill with someone just as worthless, I know it seems impossible, but nothing surprises me anymore.

just to punctuate how S.O.L. we really are, I post this for your viewing pleasure. Just a few more steps...

Monday, August 4, 2008

After unsuccessfully looking around for something to write for most of the day, I finally stumbled upon something that got my fur up. An article in USA Today talked about how our population has hit a plateau and this may be all we get back. While the numbers about high rent and the fact that there are 65,000 blighted houses or empty lots in Orleans parish were indeed disturbing, nothing was more disturbing than the comments section after the article.

People don't get it, we got it. They don't care, they don't want to hear about it and very few give us much of a chance of making it in the long run. After my anger abated, I realized while comments like this from outside our area sting, comments just like this on the TP site are even more of a kick to the crotch. People from what we like to call the Greater New Orleans area (much to their chagrin apparently) also question the desire to rebuild our city with as much venom and petty small-mindedness as people who have never set foot on our soggy soil.

Thinking about the fact we can't get support from people who should be thinking "there but for the grace of God, go I" really gets me whipped up into a frothy frenzy. While considering and questioning why we continue pushing the proverbial rock up the hill of public sentiment, I had a moment of clarity. These moments are few and far between, making them all the more powerful when they occur. In that moment I realized we need to take some responsibility for the "why bother rebuilding New Orleans" point of view.

Obviously, we don't bear the responsibility for the Federal Flood, some members of Levee Board, notwithstanding. But we have to own up to the fact that after the small window of civic pride we expressed after we returned complete with hugs on the streets for neighbors, friends and sometimes complete strangers, we set about doing things the way we always have for the most part. Some things need to done the way they always have been, those traditions are many and varied and don't need to be listed here. But one thing we need to stop doing is laughing off the epidemic of government inefficacy, and corruption.

We elected and reelected people who weren't up to the job, and the way people voted could be determined usually on racial or political party lines, without regard to what was best for the recovery. After deciding to be a devisive force in the city pandering to the black population with his "chocolate city" speech, Nagin was reelected. After being caught with more than four times the median income in New Orleans in his freezer, Bill Jefferson was also reelected. This gives politicians the idea they can act with impunity, never having to answer for their many crimes, gaffs, mistakes and general disregard for the citizenry.

I appreciate the argument of the black community, that political power is the only power they've had in this city, and they are not going to give it up without a fight. But for better or worse, Katrina happened to black and white New Orleanians alike, it's time we band together for our own survival rather than stand on opposite sides of of a line, electing people based on skin color who fiddle while we burn.

How can we expect the rest of the country, or even the rest of the region to support us if we can't rid ourselves of the corrupt, dangerous and racially biased stigma. How can we expect to ask people to return to this city or, better yet, make the move to the city we love if we can't elect people that will do whatever it takes to get a handle on crime. If we can't expect that crime cameras take precedence over revenue-generating red light cameras, then how can we expect outsiders to believe that we have a commitment to stem the tide of blood on our streets.

It is time for us to stand up and let the people who govern us know that they work for us. We must demand that they act in our best interest, as opposed to their own. Cops will be expected to police their own ranks rather than just the streets. If we can't ask that from our elected leaders and civil servants how can we expect anything to get any better? How can we expect people in Michigan, Minneapolis or Mandeville to get behind our cause?

Friday, August 1, 2008

Well folks, start stretching your hamstrings, you're about to be bent over by the city again. It's that time of year...the 2009 property assessments are headed your way. Some early grumbling is starting. After many people got screwed last year with a 100% increase in assessed value the assholes in the assessors office are at it again. As property values continue to fall nationwide, the value of homes across the NOLA are on their way up, at least according to the city. Just try to sell your home for what they say it's worth.

This is not going to tickle people. At least we are getting our money's worth, right? Nagin is clearly competent, not at all smug and with him at the helm of the recovery, we should be back to normal in no time...wait, isn't it back to normal already? I lose track. I'm too busy driving streets that look like Beirut after a mortar attack, and doing soft-shoe dance routines for tourists in the Quarter for extra money to pay my Entergy bill...totally back to normal.

This has to be a plan to run people out. A massive land grab. Is there oil beneath the Lower 9th, Lakeview, Gentilly and the East that we don't know about? We could all be the modern version of the Clampets if we just stay put (That was a Beverly Hillbillies Reference for all of you that didn't waste a large chunk of your youth watching Nick at Nite). I wouldn't recommend going into your back yard and shooting the shit out of the ground hoping to find black gold, or Texas Tea (reference continues). But, if Halliburton comes knocking at your door, I would get a wee bit suspicious. Keep your head on a swivel folks. Residents around the Haynesville shale up near Shreveport are cashing in — something like $30K an acre. We could be in the petro-crosshairs right now and not even know it.

Maybe Dyan French isn't as crazy as she sounds, maybe she was on to something when she said the levees were blown...and isn't it suspicious that Blackwater just happened to arrive in NOLA shortly after the hurricane? And that they have been working for Halliburton in Iraq for years? If this is my last post, you know that I stumbled upon a massive conspiracy here.

What is a better recipe to get people off their property? Mix one part citywide devastation, with equal parts crippling insurance rates, high property tax, high murder rates, and C. Ray Fucking Nagin! That's almost enough to get even the most stalwart New Orleanian pull the eject handle.

But, they underestimated some of us. We'll wait it out. We'll keep our eye on them and stick around. Who knows there may be oil under them thar streets. We could be rich, rich I tell ya!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

"Dirty" Derrick Shepherd has has agreed to a suspension of his right to participate as a member of all Senate standing and select committees on which he serves pending a resolution of the federal and state charges against him. Halle-fuckin-luiah. Apparently a federal indictment isn't enough to get him to step aside, but the state cherry on top of his criminal sundae does the trick. Someone should try this tact with Dollar Bill Jefferson.

Update: A friend just forwarded me the PDF of the search warrant for Shepherd's car...News flash, he's full of shit!

In a JPSO search warrant obtained on Monday, it is stated that Shepherd is the one who was threatening his ex-girlfriend's mother and sister, not the other way around. He also dropped his car off at a body shop to get a window that was "shot out" fixed.

In further refuting his comments and testimony, Shepherd was in possession of both his own cell phone as well as Thaise Ashford's, which makes their story that they traded phones to settle their "trust issues" about as plausible as Eddie Price's "I just had a few" lie.

In the warrant, it says that Shepherd basically stalked this woman, driving through her neighborhood and making harassing phone calls. It also states that he was arrested for a similar incident in 2000; simple battery and making harassing phone calls.